Warbird Information Exchange

welcome to WIX! Nice to see a new face, and I like the sharp graphics.

The Beaufighter not only served in the Pacific, but was also built in Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force, as well as British built ones that flew with the RAF and RAAF. Also the USAAF used Beaus as night fighters in the Med and N Africa under reverse lend-lease, the USAAF having neglected night fighter design (as had most air forces including the pre-war RAF).

The 'Whistling Death' / 'Whispering Death' is almost certainly entirely Allied propaganda, with absolutely no evidence the Japanese ever used the term, and such a language concept also being something that just doesn't fit Japanese language and culture. The only solid primary evidence I was able to unearth (when working on an article on such things) with a number of contacts helping was the fact that an RAF Beaufighter squadron, in, IIRC, Burma, came up with the term as a spoof for an Allied journalist, who then published the term. I've not found anything even that solid for the Corsair's variant version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Be ... al_service

So file under 'Myth', but it makes a great T shirt slogan!

Nice! Your design's good, but don't do the classic mistake with 'Mig' - Remember it is MiG - lower case 'i' upper case 'M' and 'G', remembering the two designers Mikoyan and Gurevich in the Bureau.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan

And watch out for using some company and trade names - (in)famously Boeing do go after people using their name, logo or aircraft names, in other products not authorised or endorsed or paying Boeing for the privilege. Most Boeing aircraft names are trademarked, and Boeing own a lot of legacy aircraft identities too.

http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/corpid/


I think these are usually known as polo shirts, and are my preference.

A quick search on Wiki shows they originally came up as tennis shirts, later adopted for polo and golf, and were actually invented by Lacoste, rather than just being branded as such!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polo_shirt

We live & learn.

Regards,

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Hey Zachary, did you not notice this one at the top?

http://www.redbubble.com/people/siege103/t-shirts/2648175-1-p-47-thunderbolt

Nice work everyone else, love that spark plug design I know a few folks on redbubble that will dig that!

I'll add you both to my watch list and good luck making some sales.

Hey JDK

Thanks for your comments, info and advice. I'll be sure to dodge round anything Boeing or copyrighted. I have no plans to design anything to modern so I think I'll be in no danger of any serious infringement. I also checked out that boeing link and I've not useed any source material owned by them, thank goodness

I'll see about changing that "i" on the mig design, I had no idea about that until you said. Cheers mate

As for polo shirts, sadly redbubble dont supply them as yet. perhaps they will in the future. I can see the appeal so i'll certainly see about putting a suggestion in.

Cheers
Chris

Glad to be of (I hope) constructive help.

If only it were that easy. I don't want to hijack the thread, but Boeing is just one ~ famously litigious ~ example. And they have, I believe, demanded licensing fees for representations of things like the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (the name of the Fort being a famous early 'TM'), and own trademarks for (f'rinstance) McDonnell Douglas and Douglas etc, etc, as well, I understand. If you are selling something using a corporate or residual corporate name, that can be all it takes.

What you did was OK - if you write it in capitals, MIG is OK; the non-capitalised or non-headline (usual) version is MiG is also correct, but it's the common Mig which is wrong.

Good luck with the designs!

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Hi James,

Thanks again for your reply. I get a big headache thinking about what could possibly be thought of as copyright infringement when all I want to do is be creative along a theme I'm passionate about. If companies like Boeing want to use the full extent of the law they could go right ahead and challenge anyone producing art with their products on, either past or present. Take for the example painters who create the images we are so used to seeing for sale in aircraft magazines and at air shows. They all make use of copyrighted material in one sense or another but as Boeing are not in the business of oil painting or for that matter designing classically themed t-shirts I would like to believe that they wouldn't want to spend time making law suites against anyone drawing, painting or computer generating an image of an aircraft they once built more than 70 years ago. I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing and be as careful as I can not to upset anyone. Naming designs more carefully and steering well clear of logos as you suggest will be a good way of doing this. If I ever get asked to cease and desist then I will do exactly that.

Thanks again for your advice, I've changed the MIG design to spell MiG now. Feels more authentic!

Cheers
Chris

It is unlikely that you will incur the ire of a company over the mere image of their aircraft. However, use of a trademarked company or aircraft NAMES may get you unwanted attention from their lawyers. In that event, whatever online fulfillment company is selling your goods (like Cafepress) will receive a DMCA notice and promptly remove your product from your store (They may or may not inform you of this). That's normally as far as it will go.

Lockheed did this to me over a hat with an F-16 on it bearing the words "F-16 Fighting Falcon" on it. It seems they own the trademark to that phrase for use on merchandise. (There are over forty categories of trademark, and it is typical of large corporations to protectively trademark a new product in every conceivable category, because they have that much money so why not?)

I simply changed the image to read F-16 Viper, which is what the pilots call it, anyway.

Note that using trademarked company names in your keywords is one way to invite trouble. That alone can get a product pulled. (It is also how they find them, right?)

You can do an online search of all trademarks at the appropriate .gov site.

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What is red, furry and on your six?

Fritz the Fox pretty much hits it out of the park....

The thing you are not seeing when you say Boeing doesn't make t-shirts or oil paintings... They are trying to protect the erosion of their trademarks. They will send a C&D letter everytime they see a problem. (YES, they have people who look out for things like that). Feel fortunate if they only send a C&D letter and not a lawsuit or a demand for $XXXX in damages (leading to a lawsuit since they need to cover their overhead)....

Its better if you don't screw with them.

Back when I was a lawyer (the bad old days), MAGLIGHT flipped out when a friend was making derivative products out of their lights (well, guns actually). I got them to lay off. They came after him again a few years later and he hadn't made anymore (which they can do), it cost him a LOT (and I mean say .... a freshly overhauled P-51 Engine sized price).

Another friend made LICENSED items with car company logos. They had someone on him constantly about what he was making, and how many, etc. He finally quit...

If you do it, leave North American Aviation and Lockheed out of it......

Best wishes and nice designs...

Mark H

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Fly safe or you get to meet me .......

Appreciate the info and concern. Its something i've often wondered about myself.

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

Thanks alot for this info, it's very useful to know and seems prudent to wise up. It's easy to assume the planes I'm depicting are all from long gone companies but since bigger companies like Boeing have absorbed the smaller ones the rights still persist.

Thanks for all the contributions on this subject. Better safe than sorry!

Here's a new Tshirt that I just completed featuring an Aleutian Tiger P-40. I'm working on frameable prints as well that won't have the sky cropped out.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/django1 ... igers-p-40

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Sure, Charles Lindbergh flew the plane... but Tom Rutledge built the engine!

Visit Django Studios online or Facebook!

Awesome!!!!

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

LOVE IT!!!

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-Al Sauer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spookythecat

Oh man that is AWESOME!!! still waiting on a P-47 from you though...just sayin...

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Volunteer Coordinator/Curator - Military Aviation Museum - Virginia Beach, VA
"America's Flying Museum"
http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org

Thanks!

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the P-47.

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Sure, Charles Lindbergh flew the plane... but Tom Rutledge built the engine!

Visit Django Studios online or Facebook!

I like the NAA & Lockheed designs, they avaiable?

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.